Family Law Commons^™

When Equal Opportunity Meets Freedom Of Expression: Student-On-Student Sexual Harassment And The First Amendment In School, Kay P. Kindred

Scholarly Works

Sexual harassment can take a variety of forms. It can be verbal, nonverbal or physical. Often it takes the form of hateful and harassing speech. In the AAUW Survey, 76% of the girls and 56 % of the boys surveyed had been the target of sexual comments, jokes, gestures or looks. Even when the harassment includes physical contact of some nature, it is typically accompanied or preceded by verbal harassment. While school officials and parents look for solutions to these problems, courts are struggling with the questions as well. In recent years, the problem of student-on-student sexual harassment has found …

Spare The Rod, Embrace Our Humanity: Toward A New Legal Regime Prohibiting Corporal Punishment Of Children, Susan H. Bitensky

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article proceeds from the simple premise that hitting children hurts them-even when the hitting does not rise to the level of child abuse as traditionally conceived. There is convincing evidence that corporal punishment is a hidden cruelty in child rearing that has serious adverse consequences for its victims and society at large. Yet forty-nine states permit parental corporal punishment of children and approximately half of the states permit such punishment in elementary and secondary schools The main purpose of this Article is to question the advisability of continuing the legalized status of corporal punishment of children in the United …

Blood Ties: A Rationale For Child Visitation By Legal Strangers, John Dewitt Gregory

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Spanking And Other Corporal Punishment Of Children By Parents: Undervaluing Children, Overvaluing Pain, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Chilling Child Abuse Reporting: Rethinking The Capta Amendments, Caroline T. Trost

Vanderbilt Law Review

On a December night in 1993, Gregory Bryant-Bruce, age six months, was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center Emergency Room for treatment of severe anemia, shock, and abnormally low hematocrit.' A CT scan revealed brain hemorrhaging, and a physical examination showed retinal hemorrhages of varying ages. Retinal bleeding in a young child is almost always caused by traumatic injury, and is considered to be a classic sign of "Shaken Impact Syndrome" ("SIS"), a life-threatening and relatively common form of child abuse. Thus, on the basis of Gregory's symptoms and the in- adequacy of his parents' explanation of his injuries, Gregory's …

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Images Of Motherhood: Conflicting Definitions From Welfare "Reform," Family And Criminal Law, Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

Part I of this Article explores the traditional idealized view of motherhood that child placement statutes and court decisions reflect. These laws include statutes and case law in custody disputes between parents and in child protection proceedings under civil and criminal laws where the dispute is between the parent and the state. Part II contrasts the legal construct of motherhood that child placement laws embody with the legal image of mothers in child support and welfare law.

Part III examines the impact of these conflicting images of motherhood on a particular group of mothers -- battered women. Battered women illuminate …

Court-Created Boundaries Between A Visible Lesbian Mother And Her Children, Susan J. Becker

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This essay identifies some of the boundaries and obstacles imposed by the courts on a "visible" lesbian mother striving to maintain a healthy relationship with her children. The term "visible" is used to describe a mother whose lesbian sexuality has been revealed to a court empowered with defining her future contact with her children. The primary focus here is on children who were conceived through a heterosexual relationship, and where a heterosexual parent, grandparent, or other person is challenging the lesbian mother's right to custody of, or visitation with, her own children. Court created boundaries are identified and discussed in …

Family Group Conferences As A Form Of Court Approved Alternative Dispute Resolution In Child Abuse And Neglect Cases, Jolene M. Lowry

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The problems associated with long-term foster care of children have escalated over the past decade as more abused and neglected children enter the already overworked and underfunded state child protective system& The recent Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 mandates giving preference to placement within the extended family for children who cannot be returned to their parents. Compliance with this law requires substantial changes in the policies and procedures of human services agencies in most states. This Article discusses "family group conferencing,' a new model for working with families within the system. Family Group Conferencing originated in …

Speaking To Tribal Judges On The Matter Of Improving Children's Court Practice In Child Abuse And Neglect Cases In Our Country: A Proposal For A Uniform Children's Code, Julian D. Pinkham

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Since the 1970 the responsibilities of the tribal children's courts have increased dramatically. In child welfare case tribal courts no longer simply determine whether a child has been abused or neglected. They now also oversee the placement of the child in a shelter, foster care, or a permanent home, as well as determine the parent's treatment or visitation rights The complexity of the cases causes unacceptable delays in placing Indian children in need of care and hinders the placement of Indian children within the tribal community.

Judge Pinkham introduces a proposed solution to the problems of current tribal child welfare …

Developing A Child Advocacy Law Clinic: A Law School Clinical Legal Education Opportunity, Donald N. Duquette

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Clinical legal education has become an accepted and integral complement to traditional law school curricula. Professor Duquette argues that clinical education is uniquely able to integrate the teaching of practical skills and legal doctrine, elevating students' understanding of both. Duquette maintains that a child advocacy law clinic can teach a broad range of practical skill benefit the hosting law school by providing an opportunity for interdisciplinary education as well as a public relations benefit, while simultaneously serving an important need in most communities for quality representation of all parties in child abuse and neglect cases. Most importantly, participation in a …

We Know Better Than We Do: A Policy Framework For Child Welfare Reform, Donald N. Duquette, Sandra K. Danzinger, Joan M. Abbey, Kristin S. Seefeldt

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The need for comprehensive reform of child welfare policies and systems has long been evident. This Article reports observations from the WK Kellogg Foundation-sponsored Families for Kids Initiative that seeks to expand services and support to families and reduce the time children spend in temporary care. The authors first provide an overview of the need for reforms such as those proposed by this initiative, suggesting that many child welfare studies, critiques, and proposed reforms have had similar objectives. The authors highlight lessons learned from how these reform goals are being developed, implemented, and practiced in ongoing programs across the nation …

Desegregating The Adoptive Family: In Support Of The Adoption Antidiscrimination Act Of 1955, 30 J. Marshall L. Rev. 593 (1997), Rebecca Varan

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Second Hand Smoke And Child Custody Determinations--A Relevant Factor Or A Smoke Screen?, Merril Sobie

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The thesis of this brief article is simply that the tobacco habits of a parent are relevant and worthy of consideration when a child is asthmatic, or suffers from some other definable medical condition which would be exacerbated by passive smoke. However, when the child is healthy and there exists no definitive short-term medical risk, the issue should be irrelevant. In other words, the court should consider those factors, and only those factors, which are of significant importance to the child, such as stability, caretaker skills, home environment and the child's wishes. Concededly, second-hand smoke is harmful even to a …

The Hague Convention On The Civil Aspects Of International Child Abduction: Commencing A Proceeding In New York For The Return Of A Child Abducted From A Foreign Nation, Custody, Background And Purpose Of The Hague Convention,, Stephanie Vullo

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Guardians: A Research Note, Chris Guthrie, Lawrence M. Friedman, Joanna L. Grossman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Guardianship goes back quite far in legal history; it has been a feature of American law since the colonial period. Something like guardianship is a necessity in a system that recognizes private ownership of property, while dividing the world into those who are, and those who are not, sui juris-that is, fully capable of acting on their own. The boundaries between these two domains can be quite indistinct. Defining who is insane or incompetent can be especially problematic because these categories are socially and culturally variable. Most people committed in 1900, for example, would hardly be considered insane today; they …

Has Time Rewritten Every Line?: Recovered-Memory Therapy And The Potential Expansion Of Psychotherapist Liability, Jeffrey A. Mullins

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Second-Parent Adoption: Overcoming Barriers To Lesbian Family Rights, Maxwell S. Peltz

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Part I of this Article will discuss some of the legal difficulties associated with co-parenting and why lesbian couples have sought second-parent adoptions. Part II will examine the particular statutory obstacles to second-parent adoptions and then analyze the various ways courts in several states have overcome these obstacles. Finally, Part III will discuss the implications of these decisions in terms of their creation of legal and social norms.

Damned For Using Daycare: Appellate Brief Of Jennifer Ireland In Ireland V. Smith, Julie Kunce Field

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

At issue is custody of three-and-a-half-year-old Maranda (date of birth: April 22, 1991). The trial court found that Maranda had an established custodial environment with her mother, Jennifer Ireland, but then nominally ordered custody changed to Steven Smith. The court's order changing custody was based on a determination that day care is an inappropriate choice for care of a preschool child, and that no one effectively can be a single parent and a student at the same time. Those findings have no factual basis in the record, no legal basis under Michigan law, and no logical or even common sense …

Protecting Our Children: A Call To Reform State Policies To Hold Pregnant Drug Addicts Accountable, 29 J. Marshall L. Rev. 765 (1996), Julie J. Zitella

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Standards Of Appellate Review For Denial Of Counsel And Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel In Child Protection And Parental Severance Cases, William Wesley Patton

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Secrecy And Genetics In Adoption Law And Practice, Demosthenes A. Lorandos

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Give Them A Sword: Representing Parents In Child Custody Cases, William Tabac

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

First, this Essay demonstrates that, because the "best interests" standard that states use in awarding custody between parents is so arbitrary, lawyers cannot effectively protect the parental rights of their clients. Next, this Essay contends that, because fit parents will do anything to preserve their bond with their children, the state not only expects them to commit perjury to protect their parental rights, but encourages them to do so. Finally, this Essay argues that lawyers should lay out all possible strategies to their clients even if doing so invites parents to perjure themselves.

Parents' Rights Vs. Childrens' Interest: The Case Of The Foster Child, Marsha Garrison

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

God Bless The Child: Poor Children, Parens Patriae, And A State Obligation To Provide Assistance, Kay P. Kindred

Scholarly Works

In this Article, I argue that poor parents who are willing, but economically unable, to provide proper care for their children are entitled to some minimum level of state assistance grounded in the constitutional right to family integrity. The right to family integrity, when coupled with the state's power as parens patride, creates an affirmative obligation on the state to provide income assistance to impoverished families when necessary to protect the welfare of the children and maintain the family intact.

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Contempt And Child Support Issues For Family Lawyers, Oregon Law Institute, Bette G. Yada, Diane Pietrzak, Deborah Wilson, John A. Ellis, Elizabeth Welch, Gregory B. Soriano, Mark A. Johnson

Oregon Law Institute, 1995

Course Materials from the June 2, 1995 Program in Portland

Parents And The State: Joining Forces To Report Incest And Support Its Victims, Lynne Olman Lourim

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

As many as 60,000 to 100,000 children each year become victims of child sexual abuse in this country, according to some estimates. These children typically suffer long-lasting effects of the abuse. This Note, in focusing on (step)father-daughter incest, looks at the predominance of males as perpetrators, daughters as victims, and mothers as non-abusers. The Note examines the dynamics within incestuous families and the characteristics common to each member in these families. It particularly considers the position of mothers in these families, who often are subservient to and financially dependent on the incest perpetrator. This Note then discusses how these mothers' …

On The Duties And Rights Of Parents, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

The law of the family is the law of the absurd. Law is a system of rules administered institutionally, and thus it must treat people categorically. When law regulates economic life, it finds people at arguably their most schematic, motivated-perhaps-by a relatively unitary conception of their interest pursued in relatively rational ways. But in family life, people are at their least schematic and at their most frustratingly human, various, idiosyncratic, irrational, and perverse, and the law's efforts to affect them are thus often quixotic. In Parents as Fiduciaries, 1 Professor Scott and Dean Scott strikingly and boldly deploy the …

Rock-A-Bye Lawsuit: Can A Baby Sue The Hand That Rocked The Cradle, 28 J. Marshall L. Rev. 429 (1995), Geoffrey A. Vance

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.